What the King Doth Know
by Tea and Cakes
Summary: On one of many occasions, Sarah calls a friend back to the Aboveground. A friend with a secret that could potentially and ultimately ruin a priceless companionship.


"Hoggle!" Sarah bawled into her mirror. "Hoggle, I need you now!"

She waited a few tedious moments for the squat goblin to appear. After what seemed like hours of waiting, the dim form of the creature began to appear in Sarah's reflection, walking into the light to reveal his grotesque features. His red cap still adorned his thick and heavy head, striding in with arms swinging at his sides.

"Sarah! Sarah, whater' yea' wailin' about? Come, come, don't cry now-" He gave an uneasy step out of the mirror and onto the rickety vanity, with plastic beaded necklaces haphazardly strewn across the jewelry box and pictures of famous actresses scattered around. Sarah by no means was a tidy person; her adventures through the labyrinth had changed her very little. She still had her tacky costume gowns thrown over chairs and fantasy books still crowded her shelves. All except a little red one, of course, which had been taken down many months before.

"Oh, oh, Hoggle! Hoggle, the most horrible thing happened!" Sarah burst into tears and flung herself on her vanilla-white carpet for dramatic effect. Acting was in her blood, at least since her mother deserted her and her father for the stage years before. Acting had turned into fantasy, and to escape reality it was easier to pretend than to endure the truth. It was easier to pretend a wicked stepmother controlled her life than a replacement for the negligent mother that had left her family years before. It was easier to pretend in being a forgotten princess than an overdramatic teenage brat. And it was easier to believe in mythical beings to patch the void in her heart than believing in the real figures that were constantly in her life.

"Hoggle, you know that boy, oh- E- E- Evan? Well, I told him I liked him today in history and he told Katie Ortner the next period and she told Mindy Palowicz and she told everyone at lunch and when I came in from the library I could see them whispering." Sarah whimpered and put her head in her hands. Black hair pooled around her face as she wailed louder, not carrying about the napping Karen downstairs and her little brother in his crib.

"It...It's not fair!" Hoggle clumsily scooted over to sit nextto the crying girl. With an arm around her shoulders, he gently rocked the girl who was twice his size and dug into his pockets to retrieve a frayed, gray handkerchief. Sarah gratefully took it and blew her nose.

"Now Sarah, I don' wanna hear this talk about those awful boys. Humans are catty creatures," (Sarah almost laughed at the irony of his statement), "an' you of all people should know that they're, they're..." Hoggle, who was never one to be a great comfort in times of grief, patted Sarah's back in an awkward way.

"They're _ridiculous_." He finished with obvious pride.

"Oh, but Hoggle, when Dad finds out about the D I have in gym-"

"Who cares about a bad grade in gym? There's much worse things to be a-worrin' about."

"And when Dad finds out from the disciplinarian about the smoking the cigarettes in the girl's bathroom-"

"That's a sickly habit anyway."

"And that SuperPlus fired me because I gave discounts to the girls from school-"

"It can be fixed."

"No it can't! He's going to wonder why I had to return my smock and they don't call me for more hours, and, _oh Hoggle._" She sobbed onto Hoggle's shoulder, and Hoggle stiffened in obvious discomfort. "I'm just so sick of Karen trying to take over Daddy and me and dumping me with Toby all the time."

"Sarah, dear, ya know ya can always come Underground again. Ludo and Didymus and I are your friends. Why not stay with us?"

But Hoggle knew the answer. Although she had little reason to do so, it was a certain blonde-haired, arrogant king that stood in her path from packing her backs and heading Underground. He would see her enter by watching his many crystals, and immediately swoop on the two for allowing her to return, at least that was what Sarah was convinced. And who knew what Jareth would do with Sarah again, based on his volatile temper and sore attitude at losing.

"But you never know about Jareth. Maybe he's already forgiven you for beatin' him?" Hoggle suggested with a slight shrug.

Sarah murmured something and gave more sobs onto Hoggle's dirty linen shirt. Within a few minutes, he had rocked her to the safe comforts of sleep, and he could hear her even breathing well coming from the folds of his grimy vest.

And with a few incantations, the figure of Hoggle changed and melted away into a long-legged man with silvery blonde hair cascading down his back. His monstrous face became smooth and elegant, his eyes highlighted with the markings of a goblin king. Jareth pulled back the sleeves of his crisp, clean poet's shirt and picked the limp from of Sarah up from the ground with his bare hands. Carrying her close to his muscled chest, he deposited her on the coverlets of her canopied bed, smoothing back her dark hair behind her ears.

"Sarah," he whispered in almost a prayer-like fashion. "When you're ready to return, ask. And when you know Hoggle and the rest of your friends existed only in your imagination."

Pulling his cape around him close, he closed his eyes and resumed the form of his fictious subject. If it was the only way he could be close with her again, he would keep up the façade. Cursing as he nearly slid off the vanity from the many clutterous objects lined on the table, he crawled back into the mirror and waited for his Sarah to call again.

**A/N: My second submitted Labyrinth fanfiction...in one day! Huzzah, huzzah! Like it? Have a few objections? Be sure to review...I love them because they help me with what I can improve upon. Many thanks! -Tea and Cakes**


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